*****Iowa vs Michigan Game Thread*****

[cmhawks99]

NET Strength of Schedule (SOS) - Women's College Basketball | WarrenNolan.com

2025 Women's College Basketball NET Strength of Schedule (SOS) Updated Daily.

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This is the strength of schedule ratings at least on this guy‘s site. There are four big 10 teams ahead of our number 13 schedule.

If you scroll down far enough, you’ll find UCONN at 37… Now to be fair they’re OOC was number two, but they literally play in the trashiest of trash conferences for women’s basketball.

I’m sure some of you will think I’m nuts, but I am hoping like hell to get to a #7 seed line because I’m confident the NCAA people who love storylines will match us up in the second round verse number two Connecticut.

 

[cmhawks99]

I think someone recently said we’ve lost 9 games by an average of 5.5 points (didn’t verify) so we’ve lost 9 times to P5 tournament teams, by 50ish points. Everyone winnable & at least 5, that without the inexperience and knowing how to get over the hump yet, absolutely should have been wins.

We are this close 👌 to being 24-4 and in the top 10. Now…many teams could likely say that and we clearly aren’t a top 10 team, but there are only 4 teams, ND that I believe is far and away the best, South Carolina (uber-athletic, still shoot poorly) LSU (even more athletic, still sketchy on the perimeter) & Texas, very well rounded m…until we absolutely have to.

UCONN certainly has a talented roster but they aren’t particularly big or overly athletic and I just don’t think they have the panache they once did, they are better than us, but I think they are beatable.

Some teams that are very good but I think beatable, Duke, NC St, TCU w/the 6-7 chick is a tough out. West Va w/their D is always a matchup nightmare.

Tune in tomorrow night & see how UCONN handles the only team in their league thats decent. Creighton…they beat the Blue Jays last month by 11 there. If they smoke Creighton by 20 plus @home, I’ll be a believer, they’re serious. And they may, they are a lot better than Creighton, I just think the Carolina game was an outlier.

 

[citizenHawk]

*I've seen Olivia Olson look like the superstar freshman in games, so I think it's huge that they held her in check. If you get a double whammy of Swords and Olson, it's usually trouble, and that is how they have won a lot of games. Iowa's defense was terrific tonight because Michigan is a scary scoring offense. They are going to be a problem for the conference as long as those two are there. Feuerbach gets lots of credit, but really the whole team did what they know they can do. I'd like to watch the D on a replay.

*Sydney Affolter scoring big? That is... awesome. Scoring contested layups was a big part of her game in last year's tourney, and for some reason she has had problems with it all year. Not tonight! Another cool dub-dub. It was the return of tourney Syd.

*Match it with Lucy deciding they weren't going to give her mid-range, so might as well start draining 3s. going 4-4 from distance is a great way to start a game. Both players playing like that will win a lot of games. Olson got her 20+ = Iowa win. She had some great plays on defense as well.

*Ava was ready. I think it was obvious to Jensen tonight that AOG just wasn't going to do it. She didn't hesitate to bring in Ava, and Ava did well. Wish she got that put-back when Iowa was trying to stop the bleeding, but she had big buckets.

*Senior night will be a little bittersweet with the reality that it is likely the last game in CHA for the year. Hope the fans continue to show up next year.

 

[citizenHawk]

I think someone recently said we’ve lost 9 games by an average of 5.5 points (didn’t verify) so we’ve lost 9 times to P5 tournament teams, by 50ish points. Everyone winnable & at least 5, that without the inexperience and knowing how to get over the hump yet, absolutely should have been wins.

We are this close 👌 to being 24-4 and in the top 10. Now…many teams could likely say that and we clearly aren’t a top 10 team, but there are only 4 teams, ND that I believe is far and away the best, South Carolina (uber-athletic, still shoot poorly) LSU (even more athletic, still sketchy on the perimeter) & Texas, very well rounded m…until we absolutely have to.

UCONN certainly has a talented roster but they aren’t particularly big or overly athletic and I just don’t think they have the panache they once did, they are better than us, but I think they are beatable.

Some teams that are very good but I think beatable, Duke, NC St, TCU w/the 6-7 chick is a tough out. West Va w/their D is always a matchup nightmare.

Tune in tomorrow night & see how UCONN handles the only team in their league thats decent. Creighton…they beat the Blue Jays last month by 11 there. If they smoke Creighton by 20 plus @home, I’ll be a believer, they’re serious. And they may, they are a lot better than Creighton, I just think the Carolina game was an outlier.

UConn is going to win that by 20+.
That also doesn't say much because 90% of their schedule is just weak. They can cakewalk games and prepare for the big ones.

Those other teams are problems for sure. It's going to be a greatly contested tournament.

I'm interested to see if Iowa brings a revenge tour chip on their shoulder to the BT Tourney. I don't know which Iowa team will ever really show up, but I absolutely love the team goals that Lucy spilled in that interview last week. They may have lost games, but the eyes are still on the prize.

 

[cmhawks99]

*I've seen Olivia Olson look like the superstar freshman in games, so I think it's huge that they held her in check. If you get a double whammy of Swords and Olson, it's usually trouble, and that is how they have won a lot of games. Iowa's defense was terrific tonight because Michigan is a scary scoring offense. They are going to be a problem for the conference as long as those two are there. Feuerbach gets lots of credit, but really the whole team did what they know they can do. I'd like to watch the D on a replay.

*Sydney Affolter scoring big? That is... awesome. Scoring contested layups was a big part of her game in last year's tourney, and for some reason she has had problems with it all year. Not tonight! Another cool dub-dub. It was the return of tourney Syd.

*Match it with Lucy deciding they weren't going to give her mid-range, so might as well start draining 3s. going 4-4 from distance is a great way to start a game. Both players playing like that will win a lot of games. Olson got her 20+ = Iowa win. She had some great plays on defense as well.

*Ava was ready. I think it was obvious to Jensen tonight that AOG just wasn't going to do it. She didn't hesitate to bring in Ava, and Ava did well. Wish she got that put-back when Iowa was trying to stop the bleeding, but she had big buckets.

*Senior night will be a little bittersweet with the reality that it is likely the last game in CHA for the year. Hope the fans continue to show up next year.

Great thoughts….I’ve enjoyed your insights all year. I really enjoy these women’s bball threads. Probably why I push to keep them as reasonable as possible 🧐 that losing stretch was tough and could have gone the other way. Super impressive they came out the other end vs a formidable schedule. All these BIG schedules weren’t created equal. We had a very tough one. I’m going to compare ours & Michigans later

 

[the24fan]

We stomped the life out of their 2, 3 & 4 players. KF must have been on Olsen a lot, she averages 16.3 & she had 7 & only shot 9 times. WOW! THATS how you play defense, keep them from even shooting. Olsen averages 12.7 shots & hasn’t shot less than 10 since 12/17 vs OU.

Those 3 players average 40 between them and only had 20..yikes. We have not seen an Iowa women’s bball team play defense like this since C Vivian was here & Kylie is special. I think she can defend the 1, 2, 3 and most 4s 6-2 and under, she is a demon!!!!

I am continually amazed by her!

Maybe she can give the men’s team some pointers on how to play defense since the HC can’t seem to figure it out 🫤

 

[cmhawks99]

*I've seen Olivia Olson look like the superstar freshman in games, so I think it's huge that they held her in check. If you get a double whammy of Swords and Olson, it's usually trouble, and that is how they have won a lot of games. Iowa's defense was terrific tonight because Michigan is a scary scoring offense. They are going to be a problem for the conference as long as those two are there. Feuerbach gets lots of credit, but really the whole team did what they know they can do. I'd like to watch the D on a replay.

*Sydney Affolter scoring big? That is... awesome. Scoring contested layups was a big part of her game in last year's tourney, and for some reason she has had problems with it all year. Not tonight! Another cool dub-dub. It was the return of tourney Syd.

*Match it with Lucy deciding they weren't going to give her mid-range, so might as well start draining 3s. going 4-4 from distance is a great way to start a game. Both players playing like that will win a lot of games. Olson got her 20+ = Iowa win. She had some great plays on defense as well.

*Ava was ready. I think it was obvious to Jensen tonight that AOG just wasn't going to do it. She didn't hesitate to bring in Ava, and Ava did well. Wish she got that put-back when Iowa was trying to stop the bleeding, but she had big buckets.

*Senior night will be a little bittersweet with the reality that it is likely the last game in CHA for the year. Hope the fans continue to show up next year.

By the by yes on Olivia Olson, hell of a player & we throttled her. I’ve watched Michigan some and all 3 of those Frosh are top tier, Sylas just past them. It appears Jan let Syla do her thing & focused on those 2 & Jordan Hobbs (another terrific player) and it worked. They did have pressure on Syla, she’s just that good. She had 10 rebounds & she’s just a baby. She’s very tough!

Michigan’s problem is they’re not particularly deep and they don’t play elite level defense. We seemingly always have one poor quarter but in the first, second and fourth we held them to 42 points. That’s a winning formula.

 

[cmhawks99]

Maybe she can give the men’s team some pointers on how to play defense since the HC can’t seem to figure it out 🫤

I think that’s hopeless, but it would be a nice trade off if he could give Jan pointers on IB plays. Jan has gotten better there, as have our TOs, but for all his faults, there are none better than Fran on inbounds plays.

 

[citizenHawk]

By the by yes on Olivia Olson, hell of a player & we throttled her. I’ve watched Michigan some and all 3 of those Frosh are top tier, Sylas just past them. It appears Jan let Syla do her thing & focused on those 2 & Jordan Hobbs (another terrific player) and it worked. They did have pressure on Syla, she’s just that good. She had 10 rebounds & she’s just a baby. She’s very tough!

Michigan’s problem is they’re not particularly deep and they don’t play elite level defense. We seemingly always have one poor quarter but in the first, second and fourth we held them to 42 points. That’s a winning formula.

It looked like Swords was getting in a rhythm at one point, and it felt like that huge lead was going to slip. She's a great player, and I guess it's good she chose to play for a team trying to build something over a perennial contender. Glad they are both in the conference. Hopefully Iowa can match the talent.

 

[cmhawks99]

Double check my math on this, but Iowa has lost eight conference games to the tune of 36 points. Michigan has played the same number of tournament teams, we have, but lost seven games, including one to Wisconsin to the tune of 100 total points.

I have always thought we were better than Michigan, but I honestly thought we were better than Michigan State, Oregon, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and yes, even Ohio State… So there’s that😂

 

[HawksGoneWild1]

If you scroll down far enough, you’ll find UCONN at 37… Now to be fair they’re OOC was number two, but they literally play in the trashiest of trash conferences for women’s basketball.

I’m sure some of you will think I’m nuts, but I am hoping like hell to get to a #7 seed line because I’m confident the NCAA people who love storylines will match us up in the second round verse number two Connecticut.

I have always thought we were better than Michigan, but I honestly thought we were better than Michigan State, Oregon, Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana and yes, even Ohio State… So there’s that😂

You are nuts.
If my calculator is right, I already had us at a front end 6 seed because Michigan was already a projected 6 seed (I also have them here) and I had us one rank position higher than them prior to tonight's win.
So gaining another Quad 1 away win, will most likely boost us higher. Will it push us to a back end 5 seed?
Have to see how the models change after tomorrow morning's reset.

Btw, think Scott posted earlier today that we were already projected a 7 seed before today's Michigan game.

 

[cmhawks99]

You are nuts.
If my calculator is right, I already had us at a front end 6 seed because Michigan was already a projected 6 seed (I also have them here) and I had us one rank position higher than them prior to tonight's win.
So gaining another Quad 1 away win, will most likely boost us higher. Will it push us to a back end 5 seed?
Have to see how the models change after tomorrow morning's reset.

Btw, think Scott posted earlier today that we were already projected a 7 seed before today's Michigan game.

Awesome, great stuff & thank you! I wanted to get past this game before I drilled down on projections. I didn’t have the courage to pick this kind of game ahead of time, but I thought we were much better than Michigan.

 

[citizenHawk]

Idk. I do know that Michigan was right there with the L.A. teams, but got overwhelmed in the second half of those games. I thought it said more about how "unbeatable" both USC and UCLA were that they took down Michigan handily. Maybe it was that the games were in California. I don't recall the scores, but they added a lot of loss points to that tally. After tonight you would probably compare Iowa with the top schools rather than Michigan, but it all depends on which Iowa is going to show up.

But maybe we are getting closer to Iowa being more consistently good (despite the losses to OSU and UCLA)?

 

[HawksGoneWild1]

Idk. I do know that Michigan was right there with the L.A. teams, but got overwhelmed in the second half of those games. I thought it said more about how "unbeatable" both USC and UCLA were that they took down Michigan handily. Maybe it was that the games were in California. I don't recall the scores, but they added a lot of loss points to that tally. After tonight you would probably compare Iowa with the top schools rather than Michigan, but it all depends on which Iowa is going to show up.

But maybe we are getting closer to Iowa being more consistently good (despite the losses to OSU and UCLA)?

Yes, Torvik's trendline was still positive for us even though we lost 2 games against highly rated teams. We actually rose in his rankings also with those losses.

Even the AP poll weirded out over our last 2 losses. We had zero votes prior to the UCLA loss. Then received 2 AP votes with back-to-back losses in the same polling week. Who knows, maybe someone felt sorry for us over the Lucy Olsen trip. However, my gut tells me they were impressed how close we played both teams which would match up with Torvik.

 

[cmhawks99]

Idk. I do know that Michigan was right there with the L.A. teams, but got overwhelmed in the second half of those games. I thought it said more about how "unbeatable" both USC and UCLA were that they took down Michigan handily. Maybe it was that the games were in California. I don't recall the scores, but they added a lot of loss points to that tally. After tonight you would probably compare Iowa with the top schools rather than Michigan, but it all depends on which Iowa is going to show up.

But maybe we are getting closer to Iowa being more consistently good (despite the losses to OSU and UCLA)?

You are remembering correctly. I watched both games until late. Being out there definitely had an effect & ended up being 20 & 16 point losses. Again, UMs defensive intensity is waning. We are better than UM & although we aren’t @better@ than the LA teams. We have something they didn’t get much of, grit and defensive intensity. You said earlier the whole team deserves credit and they do. Syd is a gritty defender and more athletic and physical than you’d guess. Lucy is a willing defender & AG is quick. HS can move her feet (some games, she just does dumb shit) and Taylor’s D has improved. But when you have a 6ft woman, w/long arms (essentially a 6-7 man) and uber-quick that will chase & deny, deny, deny all game. She played 34 minutes, you’ve got a leg up. Nobody all year long ( and I’ve watched USC play at least 10 games ) has harassed JuJu like she did.

You can put her on almost anyone & they are going to have a looonnngg night. Superstars don’t like being guarded like that. CC didn’t either.

 

[oldhawk56]

You are remembering correctly. I watched both games until late. Being out there definitely had an effect & ended up being 20 & 16 point losses. Again, UMs defensive intensity is waning. We are better than UM & although we aren’t @better@ than the LA teams. We have something they didn’t get much of, grit and defensive intensity. You said earlier the whole team deserves credit and they do. Syd is a gritty defender and more athletic and physical than you’d guess. Lucy is a willing defender & AG is quick. HS can move her feet (some games, she just does dumb shit) and Taylor’s D has improved. But when you have a 6ft woman, w/long arms (essentially a 6-7 man) and uber-quick that will chase & deny, deny, deny all game. She played 34 minutes, you’ve got a leg up. Nobody all year long ( and I’ve watched USC play at least 10 games ) has harassed JuJu like she did.

You can put her on almost anyone & they are going to have a looonnngg night. Superstars don’t like being guarded like that. CC didn’t either

Bump

 

[fish1hawk]

Just as I predicted 🤪

Did you have the score, if so I am triple impressed

 

[cmhawks99]

Anyone remember who guarded Syla in the 4th, she only had 2 points, I believe. She was liquid in the 3rd. I expected Jan to move Kylie on her but that’s not what happened. At least I don’t remember that happening and I was watching for it

 

[cmhawks99]

Kachine Alexander is worth a listen, never have before. Pretty smart, very real

 

[HawkFan1986]

If you think CC is already the greatest player in history of women’s basketball you are delusional. Will she at some point - maybe.

She’s certainly the most fun to watch that I’ve ever seen.

 

[Mister_Man]

I never saw her come back on. I just saw her by the hoop holding the mike.